The Reciprocal
by Baby seal
Summary: I am Edward's reciprocal. If I had tried, I could have been him. But I didn't. Emmett Cullen is a twenty year old vampire who had been happy with his life until someone came along and changed everything. EdwardBella pairing from Emmett's POV.
1. Edward Cullen and his Honesty Complex

Hello all. My name is Emmett Cullen and this is my story.

Well, not my whole story exactly - that would just take too long. You see, I'm not normal. I was born in 1915 in Tennesse. I was out hiking in the mountains when I was 20 and a bear bit me. I was dying when Rosalie found me and took me to Carlisle, who changed me into a vampire. Ever since then, I've been 20 and happily married to Rosalie Hale, the woman who found me and saved me.

When I say 'ever since then,' I don't really mean it. Something, or rather someone, arrived at Forks High School while my siblings and I were there and from that day forth I was always dissatisfied with Rosalie, though I was careful not to show it to anyone, especially not Edward.

Ah, Edward. Right at this very moment, all the attention of everyone in the makeshift laboratory room was on him and his fiancée lying in the bed beneath him. He was leaning over her, his whole body tense as he bared his teeth against her shoulder, ready to bite. Carlisle hovered over him with several syringes filled with painkillers and anaesthetics to ease the pain. The tension in the room was unmistakeable; you could cut it with a knife. No one spoke, but no words were needed. We had already exchanged our tearful "Good luck"'s and were all currently waiting for Edward to get a move on and bite her. _She_ was certainly ready - she was half conscious with all the drugs Carlisle had used on her, but she had wanted this for a long time, almost a year now.

Finally, some movement. Edward lowered his head right down to her ear and whispered, "You ready?" in the sweetest, most tender tone I had ever heard him use. She nodded groggily, "Get a move on," she complained, her beautiful face twisted into a scowl.

He raised his head and gave us all one long look. I suspected he was making sure that we were all ready too.

_She's right_, I thought at him smugly, allowing myself to smirk briefly, _Get a move on!_

Edward gave me a withering look which I returned eagerly. I loved our playful sibling jests - we all knew they weren't serious. And soon we would have a new player.

He turned back to Bella, his face serious again. He bared his teeth against her shoulder once more.

_I wish it was me_, I lamented in my thoughts, too immersed to notice that I had had a momentary lapse in my control. It was enough - Edward stiffened and straightened up, his eyes looking directly into mine, piercing and defensive.

"Edward!" Bella moaned, obviously irritated with the continual interruptions. I felt for her then, truly I did. She was the one who really had reason to be scared right now, not me. And yet I was. An angry Edward was pretty intimidating really.

"Yes, come on Edward," Rosalie sighed in annoyance. It must be irritating wasting three days worth of your time, especially if you were immortal, I thought in sudden exasperation. Rosalie was just so _shallow_! Nowadays it was hard to believe that I had ever loved her in the first place.

"One moment please," Edward asked of the others politely, his eyes still fixed on me. He approached me warily, staring me down even though his height made it impossible for him to physically intimidate me.

"What are you thinking about, Emmett?" he asked conversationally, musing, though he obviously knew the answer.

I glared at him, "You've no business inside my head."

He narrowed his eyes, "What are you thinking about exactly?"

"I'm just worried about Bella."

He smiled suddenly, wryly. "I think it was more than that," he pressed, intent on making me admit to the rest of the room what he already knew.

"Edward…" I growled in warning. This had gone far enough. I was sick of his stony face already. And I was nervous that he would reveal his newfound knowledge to the rest of them. I couldn't bear that.

"Emmett, leave her alone," he threatened, taking a step towards me.

"I didn't _do_ anything!" I protested, albeit weakly.

"Boys," Esme's soft voice interrupted our verbal sparring, "Stop, you're distracting Carlisle."

Edward ignored her and continued in his interrogation, "How long?" he demanded abruptly, his eyes flashing dangerously in my direction. I was tired of acting passive, so I determined to try an offensive approach to try and scare him off. I took a step towards him, counting on my physical size and brawn to intimidate him, "You're imagining things, brother," I countered. I had thrown off the nice, sweet-talking voice now and I was sneering derisively at him. He wasn't convinced.

"This is _sick_, Em," he spat, enunciating every syllable he spoke in an infuriating manner. I didn't think I was imagining the bitter, dry edge to his voice now. He was so protective of Bella that it was driving him round the bend.

All of a sudden, I felt the calming atmosphere radiating out from Jasper and it hit me hard. I realized what I had done; it washed over me in a wave of self-loathing and pity. I had let my thoughts slip right in front of Edward and so now he knew what I felt for his Bella. She had always been his - I couldn't read minds or see the future, but I wasn't stupid. I had seen how, on that first day she had bypassed Jasper and I because of our unavailability and (I thought) my daunting muscles. That left Edward, who coincidentally sat next to her in Biology. Lucky bastard.

"I can't help it, _Ed_," I protested. My integrity was safe on this one; I _couldn't_ help it. Ever since I had seen her, I had known. I know it sounds stupid, but _you_ try falling head over heels in love with your brother's girl. It's a long, hard road - unrequited love. I guess I know how Eve felt in the Garden of Eden when she was tempted by the apple, if you believe that sort of stuff.

His face grew cold, even for a vampire, "You're already married, about five times too."

"Who says I wanted anyone to know?"

He sighed, obviously frustrated, "Rose has a right to know; so does Bella."

"I thought that was my decision," I said coolly, a low animal growl sounding from the back of my throat.

Rosalie was interested now, "Tell me, Emmett," she demanded in her angelic voice. I used to find that sound so beautiful, but now it was merely an irritation. I growled again, this time louder.

"Yes, go on Emmett," Edward snarled, no longer bothering up to keep the polite façade any longer, "Tell Rosalie the truth."

I was trapped now, resenting Edward for putting me in this position. I had never meant for anyone to know of my feelings for Bella, but it looked like everyone would know now, even Bella herself and Rosalie. I felt bad for Rosalie - she loved me still, as I had loved her before Bella.

"No," I insisted stubbornly, folding my arms across my chest. I didn't know how much more my patience could take.

There was a noise from the bed. I had been wondering how much of this Bella could take and it looked like she had reached her limit. "Emmett?" she called softly, her eyebrows raised slightly as she looked expectantly towards me.

_Great_, I thought, _now I have to lie to Bella too._

"You won't be lying," Edward said, speaking up again, "I'll tell them myself if I have to."

Damn Edward _bloody_ Cullen and his _bloody_ honesty complex! _Sorry God_, I amended hastily, mentally apologizing for my language.

"Well?" Edward prompted when I didn't say anything, "Are you going to tell them or shall I?"

I was trembling with rage, "It's none of your business, Cullen."

"Emmett is in love," Edward - that _traitor_ - said calmly, and then added, "With Bella."

_I remember the day Bella came to Forks. It was raining - as usual. That was, of course, why we had chosen it as the ideal spot for a coven of vampires to live.__ The first time I saw her was in the cafeteria. We were sitting where we normally did - at our own table, just us Cullens and Hales. Of course no one would dare sit at our table, and it was just as well really. Any of us, in particular Jasper, might be tempted act on our vampire instincts by attacking one of our peers which would be devastating in that we would have to move again. It got so tiresome always being nomadic, but that was part of the cons of being a vampire, I guess._

_Anyway, I vividly, remember my first glimpse of her, her long brunette hair loose around her shoulders and blowing her delicious scent towards our table._

"_Jessica St__anley is giving the new Swan girl all the dirty laundry on the Cullen clan," Edward had murmured to me jokingly, his eyes sparkling as he listened to Jessica's thoughts._

_I remember how he couldn't hear her thoughts and how frustrated and confused he was by that. It was probably the basis of his curiosity about her._

_Of course we were all curious. How could we not be? This was Chief Swan's daughter come to live with him from God knows where. We were interested, as most of the school was, about how she was finding Forks so far._

_Rosalie, of course, had never thought to worry about me being one of the many males obsessed with Bella Swan. Her vanity brought with it a blind arrogance and she would never for a minute think that I preferred the new girl's human and extremely average (compared to her) looks to hers. That was the moment from which I realized how narcissistic she really was._

_And Bella had asked about him… "Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" she had asked, and from that moment on I had always been careful never to think of how I felt about her around Edward. I knew, I suppose, that she had picked him. In a way, of course. Bella wasn't that shallow.__ That was why I had never told her, or Rosalie for that matter. I had always known I didn't have a chance. Edward had beaten me to her, and I accepted that wearily, but unable to shake off my desire- no, that wasn't true. It wasn't lust that drew me to her, nor curiosity. I was in love with my brother's girl and there was nothing I could do about it._

My world stopped. I couldn't face Carlisle's disappointed expression; Esme's upset face; Jasper's angry air; Alice's resigned scowl; Edward's knowing smirk; Rosalie's shocked and hurt face, cut in a pout and Bella…

Bella would be stunned. I was sure she had no idea - being immortal helped when you were trying to conceal secrets because you learned all the tips along the way. I had over a hundred years of experience in keeping secrets and I was confident that she had had absolutely no idea of my infatuation with her.

Rosalie would be furious. I knew that much because I had seen her anger against her former husband and I could only hope she wouldn't kill me as she did him. I ached for her because part of me still loved her.

I had had my eyes shut firmly from the moment that Edward had revealed my secret to the others, but I knew I had to face the consequences of my- what? Not my actions, surely. I had never acted on my feelings for Bella, so that meant I was facing the consequences of my thoughts. _Thou shalt not covet._ If you believed in that sort of stuff anyway, which I didn't.

With a hopeless sense of dread, I opened my eyes.

* * *

**Hi everyone reading this story!! This is my first Twilight fanfic, and I'd just like to advertise my other two current fics under Harry Potter: Everybody's Getting Love Today and Learning to Live which are both set in the Marauders Era. Sorry for doing that, cause I know personally I hate it when authors advertise their other fics in their author's notes. I hope you like the idea that Emmett loved Bella. I can just see him battling with his inner demon, as it were. Edward or Bella? His brother or his (unrequited) love?**

**Also, if anyone has any ideas about where this fanfic could go, please tell me in a review!**

**Thanks,**

**xx**

**Baby seal**


	2. All Hell Will Break Loose

All hell broke loose. Oh, the delicious irony of that last statement! _Harden up, Emmett. Don't take your eye off the ball._ _I can do this,_ I told myself sternly, but did I believe myself? Because if I couldn't believe myself, who could I believe?

Rosalie gasped, "No, Edward!" she hissed dangerously, her angelic blue eyes narrowing in disbelief. She was looking less and less like an angel as the seconds ticked by. "You're _wrong_! Emmett loves me, don't you darling?"

I forced myself to stand up taller and pushed my shoulders down so that I looked calmer than I felt, "Actually…" I began, leaving her to fill in the blanks in this equation. It shouldn't be too hard for a beauty like her.

Esme looked at me hard then, "Are you sure?" she asked, turning to question Edward. The man in question shrugged helplessly.

"I read minds. Of course I'm sure."

Carlisle was obviously disappointed in me. He shook his head at me slowly, before turning back to Bella.

"Edward, she's waiting," he called out softly.

Rosalie drew in a quick breath, "And you're still going to change her?" she demanded of Edward, "So that they can spend even more time together?!"

I tensed at that. There was no way Bella was staying a human because of me and that was the end of it. But to my relief Edward put an end to my worries by staring at her coolly and saying, "Emmett wouldn't dare."

_I was thinking about the day we were properly introduced to Bella. Gawking at her across the school cafeteria didn't really count.__ It was when Edward brought her home with him and of course, with Alice's mind reading talents and us all being vampires, we were expecting her. She was just as nice as I had expected her to be, as Edward had made her out to be. In fact she was even nicer, prettier and smelled far better than I had thought possible. She was possibly the loveliest person I had ever seen, which was when I first realized that what I felt for her was not going to go away. That it wasn't just a passing fancy, a trifle. When I realized I was serious about her, I came down hard on myself. I knew and had seen by then how much Edward cared about her and I knew he would be upset - a major understatement - if I muscled in on 'his girl' or Bella, as she was called._

_Isabella Swan - a gorgeous name for an equally stunning girl. She hated being called Isabella however, and preferred Bella._

_I wasn't in the first group of us that met her at the door. I was with Rosalie because she hated Bella madly and passionately. Although she had never met Bella, her animosity towards her was fuelled by her jealousy. She had originally been brought into the family intended for Edward, but he had never had any interest in her. So she was jealous that an average looking human could catch and hold his eye, but not her. She was also jealous of Bella because she was a human, and I guess we all were a little. And with my infatuation with Bella, I thought it was best that I stayed away under the pretence of keeping Rosalie company._

_Of course, Edward just had to ask Jasper and I for advice, his dilemma being that he found Bella's blood irresistible. I made up some lie about it happening twice and that one time I killed the offending girl. I was surprised he believed me__ - I would have thought that he would see through such a blatant lie easily. But I guess he had a lot on his mind at the time, what with his Bella problem._

_The first time she spoke to me, I discovered what a beautiful and melodic voice she possessed. I felt like I could have listened to her voice forever when she said to me, "Hello Emmett. I've heard so much about you."_

"_All good, I hope?" I had replied teasingly, trying to draw myself away from her._

_You see, it wasn't so much her scent that drew her to me, but her irresistibility and charisma. She had this ability to hold the attention of everyone around her, and I was no exception._

"_Yeah. Edward says you hunt like a bear," she said cautiously, obviously not wanting to overstep her human boundaries with me. I recognized this, and so did not let myself become offended by anything she said that a vampire that didn't know her would be angered at. Not that she didn't try, though. When she talked to any of us, it felt like she wanted to say more but was scared to in case she said something wrong and upset us._

_I laughed then, to put her at some ease. I was slightly irritated that Jasper wasn't around to pacify and comfort her a bit more, but I understood that meeting Bella needed to be done naturally so we understood who she was and how she reacted to us really._

"_Well, __**he**__ can hardly talk, seeing as he hunts like a lion," I said._

"_Yes, he told me that," she quipped, "I hear you like grizzly best."_

_I remember thinking that the conversation was shaping up to be an extremely weird one. She seemed to think along the same lines._

"_Well, this is a little awkward."_

_I laughed again, but this time it was because I found her comment funny. "So what's your favourite?"_

_She put a finger to her chin in mock-thought, "I think I like Edward best."_

_And that was when it all became final. I knew from that moment that I had no chance with Bella because it was clear to me that she was as devoted to Edward as he was to her. As I stood there with her, my heart slowly sinking with disappointment and regret, I locked away my heart from her and anyone else._

"Wait!" Bella called to Edward as he bent over her once more. He straightened.

"What's up, Bella?"

She hesitated. I could see indecision and determination flitting across her face - obviously he wasn't going to like whatever was going to come out of her mouth next.

"I need to talk to Emmett first - alone."

I swallowed. The sound, to me, was incredibly loud and reverberated in the suddenly silent room.

"YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Rosalie screamed angrily, clawing at Bella's lovely face with her flawless fingernails. Somehow she had found her way to the bed where Bella was lying, now lifting her arms to try and defend herself from the onslaught.

"HE'S MINE!" She yelled again. Rosalie looked completely insane, extremely different from the Rosalie I knew; in all the time I had known her, I had never seen her lose control like this before. "YOU STEALINIG, LYING BITCH!"

I moved suddenly and instinctively to protect Edward's girl. Rosalie shrieked as she felt my large arms pick her up and haul her away from Bella, but all the vampire strength in the world wouldn't have been able to stop me; I was a man possessed, possessed by love and hatred towards these two women.

"Rosalie!" Carlisle's sharp rebuke stopped her cold. She froze as she realized where she was and what she had done.

Her eyes met mine as she looked up at me; her saviour and yet her entrapper.

"Why don't you love me anymore?" she whispered, her eyelashes beating double time against her eyelids, "What does _she_ have that I don't?"

"Rose," I began helplessly, unable to meet her gaze any longer, "Love is unpredictable and I can't control who I fall in love with. Remember, I am just a lusty male twenty year old vampire."

"Then it's true! All of it!" she gasped, outraged, "I hate you, Emmett Cullen! I hate you and Bella and I hate stupid Forks and _why am I a bloody monster anyway?!_" The last part was directed at Carlisle, as she looked at him venomously as she said it.

"I'm sorry, Rose."

She slapped me then, a bright red handprint bloomed suddenly on my unsuspecting face.

"And I'm leaving - for good!"

Alice breathed hollowly in the silence that followed, "No you're not, Rosalie Hale." Her voice was icy cold and left no room for argument.

"And how exactly are you going to stop me?" she challenged, her eyes flashing rebelliously as she countered Alice's argument.

"It's not just me," Alice added, "It's all of us. You're a part of who we are and you're a part of our family. So no, you won't leave us."

Rosalie looked around the room at the rest of us, examining our faces.

"And who else feels this way?" she inquired.

"Me," I put in firmly, snarling slightly at her hurt expression.

"And me," Esme said softly.

"I do," Jasper added, flashing her a smug look.

"You know how I feel, Rosalie," Carlisle stated calmly, with a voice of authority that quelled any argument.

"Edward?" She asked stiffly, sounding defeated.

"You're staying."

"I'm leaving," she argued fiercely.

"You'll have to get through all of us first," I growled harshly. She must be desperate if she was arguing with Edward of all people, I thought.

"Well we're over," she said bleakly, "I hope you're happy."

"Rose-" I started. This was going too far.

"I'm getting a divorce."

"But-"

She exhaled heavily, "_How_ can I stay married to you when I know that you love someone else?"

And I guess she was right. That this had to go ahead, I mean. But there was no way in hell any of us were about to let her leave us and that was final.

"I really am sorry," I admitted, feeling my arms hanging loosely and limply at my sides. I felt terrible for doing this to her.

"Sure you are. Well, to hell with you, Emmett Cullen! I'm through with you and you're the one who's missing out here, not me!" She replied snappily, putting one hand on my chest and pushing me away. I sighed.

"This is all your fault," I said exasperatedly to Edward. He shook his head at me.

"You fell in love with my girl. How's that my fault?"

He was right. "But she didn't have to know. Neither of them did." I was stalling; we both knew it.

"Would you rather not have told them ever, and harboured a secret infatuation for Bella?" Edward challenged. Again, he was right. Why was it he was always right?

I didn't reply - that told him my answer.

"So you admit I'm right," he gloated, a smug look flitting across his face.

"Well don't expect me to say thank you."

He smiled ruthlessly, "I don't."

* * *

**So how did you like _that?_ Rather dramatic, I thought, but I guess a secret love scandal is a pretty big deal for them, especially since Emmett and Rosalie have been together for ages. Well, I expect lots of reviews again for this chapter!**

**xx**

**Baby seal**


	3. Running Through Time

That night I stayed with Bella, just talking to her and telling her jokes and funny memories to ease her pain. I had been so worried that my feelings for her would ruin the friendship we shared, but she had not even mentioned it yet.

"Emmett?" she asked, still laughing from my tale of how our family had played truth or dare once, and how Jasper had done his dare, which was to go to the diary near where we lived at the time and pretend he was insane. We all remembered that fondly, all of us except Jasper, of course.

"Uh-huh?" I managed through my laughter, which flowed freely and uncontrolled now.

"Do you really love me?" she asked, albeit shyly.

I sighed. There was only one real answer I could give her, and Edward would come barging in if I wasn't honest with her. He had, with much persuading, accepted that Bella and I needed to talk, but he was listening to our conversation and would force me out if he had any excuse to do so.

"Yes, I suppose I do," I answered resignedly.

"Why?"

I hesitated. It was one thing for me to admit the truth of what I had already said, but to embellish on it might invoke Edward's wrath.

"I don't think your fiancé is going to want me to continue this discussion," I said, apologizing.

She protested as I had known she would. "But I have a right to know! I need to know!"

"But Edward will-"

"He'd better not do anything to you," she said, "Just because this situation has come up, it doesn't mean you're not still my good friend!"

The words stung more than I had expected them to, more than was humanly possible. Of course, I was not a human and she was well on her way to becoming one of us.

Too late she realized how her words must have sounded to me and she looked stricken, "Oh Emmett! I _am_ sorry, please listen!"

And I did. I loved her and would continue to do so for eternity. Oh, how God had mocked me the day He had sent Bella to Forks. If you believed in all that Bible-y stuff, which I didn't.

"The thing is," she continued, "When I came here, to Forks, I noticed your family. On my first day - I'm sure Edward noticed, with his mind reading talent - I asked Jessica all about the Cullens because you were the first really interesting people I'd met here. You five were basically social outcasts and you were excluded but this didn't seem to bother you and I wondered why. I guess you guys just had a super strong bond from being together for longer than the others."

"A lot longer," I muttered darkly, earning a chuckle from Bella, but then she winced.

"What hurts?" I asked, instantly anxious for her sake.

She tutted, "For Gods sake, Emmett. Everything hurts, but there's nothing you or Edward or Carlisle can do to stop it."

"I hate seeing you so helpless like this," I whined. It felt wrong not doing anything to help her plight.

"Oh, it's nothing," she dismissed, but I could see the fear and pain in her eyes. "Three days? Big deal."

I could see she was close to tears now and I rushed to her side and enveloped her frail - still human - body with my arms. That did it. The floodgates burst and I held her even tighter to make myself feel like I had a hope in hell of protecting her from the intense fiery pain she was enduring. It had only been about five hours since Edward had finally bitten her, but it seemed like an eternity.

_I remember the anger I felt when James, the tracker, noticed her. It was obvious - even to me, with no special mind reading talents or future seeing talents - that he wanted her blood very badly. I recall having a wild desire to approach him then and there and fighting him. The only reason I held off and stood back was Edward, giving me a hard look_

_But if I had attacked then, would it have saved Bella from all that torture, emotional and physical? I had never been sure, and it had haunted me ever since._

_So it was satisfying when Jasper and I found James in the ballet studio near Bella's mother's house. It satisfied my outrage that someone would dare to harm Bella when we were finally able to finish him. I took pleasure in beating him and ending his existence and I don't regret doing it._

_I couldn't go into that room and see Bella lying there, broken and battered like a doll, so I stayed outside with Jasper. I wouldn't have been able to control my stricken and loving emotions if I had seen her there, and Edward would have found out. I wanted to see her - the urge to hold her was overwhelming__ - but I controlled myself. Being immortal gives you patience and I used this to my advantage, telling myself that I would see her soon enough._

"Hey, hey," I murmured softly, rocking her still. "I love you because you're perfect in every way. You're nice and caring, funny and unpredictable and you're more than beautiful."

She snorted through her tears, "_I'm_ beautiful? But Rosalie…"

"I don't love Rosalie, though," I reminded her sadly.

"Emmett?"

I nodded, but realized she probably couldn't see me. "Yeah?"

"If Edward and I weren't… together… would you…?"

Her deep blush was rendering her incoherent.

Again I nodded. "I would, and he knows that. I think it scares him."

"Wow," she breathed. "I think if Edward and Jacob didn't exist, you and I wouldn't be an impossibility."

"I'm flattered." This was more than I had expected; that she would have given me a chance were it not for her two open admirers.

Just then, Edward rushed in, looking every inch the overprotective and worried boyfriend. Fiancé, I had to remind myself. I hated using that word - it made me sad that Bella and I shared nothing but a good friendship, while Edward and Bella were deeply and madly in love.

"Bella!" he called to her, shouldering me aside and picking her up gently. He cradled her in his lap and talked to her softly.

"Bye Emmett… Talk to you tomorrow," she mumbled lazily, her hand busy tracing Edward's chest. I took this as my cue to leave and in my eyes, her dismissal was evened out by the fact that she was in severe pain and needed to be with her love to get through it.

Edward smiled, "No hard feelings," was his parting response as I left the room, unsettled and upset by Bella's hurt.

LINE LINE LINE LINE LINE LINE LINE LINE LINE LINE LINE LINE

We were running through the forest like bullets, almost faster than the speed of light. The only difference between this hunting trip and any other we had been on in Forks was that instead of there being seven vampires hunting, there were eight.

Bella was a striking newborn. Her somewhat plain brown hair had darkened and was now more chestnut coloured. Her skin was paler, though not much. She had always had very pale skin as a human, and now her skin colour was equal to ours. She, of course, was amazingly beautiful; her nose straighter, her lips fuller and her eyes wider. Her eyes were red, as any newborns' were, but they would fade to yellow if she stuck to our diet. Jasper and I had been taking bets on how much she would… slip up… in her first year as a vampire, but she seemed to be holding out very well.

Bella spoke in a quick voice, much quicker than before. "How often do you do this?"

"Whenever we need to," Esme replied, speaking equally fast.

"That is, when we can't be around humans without restraint," Carlisle added.

"How often normally?" she pressed. Their previous answers didn't seem to have satisfied her.

"Every couple of weeks, usually," Edward said.

And then she was speaking to Edward.

"When will we have the wedding?" she asked him, more quietly this time, but we were all vampires and we all possessed extremely good hearing and so we could all hear her.

"When would you like to have it?" He asked, a gentleman to the end. "Isn't Alice organizing it?"

"How about the twenty-third of August?" Alice suggested, running next to me with Jasper on her other side.

"I think so," Bella replied.

Jasper chuckled, "You don't need to be nervous."

And then we were there - our favourite hunting spot. It was twilight, so everything was bathed in a kind of half-light. We were in a small clearing several miles from our house, but this was not Edward's favourite clearing. The trees that stood here were taller, more imposing, and there was a lot more bush and foliage to hide behind. (We had once played hide-and-seek here, but it obviously hadn't worked. When Edward was in, he listened to what we were thinking to find out where we were hiding, and of course Alice could see where we had decided to hide.)

We planned to show Bella how to hunt, though she would have an instinctive feel as to how to do it. There were bears here, but no lions or any other large cats. More importantly, though, there were deer. These were the easiest to hunt, because they were slow - though all animals were slow to us - and because they didn't or couldn't fight back well.

One ambled into view, hardly frightened of us at all. I saw Bella eyeing it suspiciously, and with caution. Edward ran quickly and, with a feral snarl, he brought it down. It was very true to say that he looked like a lion when he hunted. He leaped onto his prey and used his weight to bring it tumbling to the ground.

He looked at Bella nervously, obviously worried that she would be scared off after seeing him hunt. It was rather a bit too late for that, though, and she smiled weakly.

"What if I suck?" she asked of everyone.

"You get better," Alice said optimistically. "Hmm… you're going to completely muck up your first try, but then you'll get the hang of it."

Bella snorted, "Great."

Next was Esme's turn - but Alice frowned. "Maybe Emmett should have this one," she suggested lightly.

"Why? What is it?" I asked, but I could guess.

"Grizzly," she answered.

I nodded, and took a tentative sniff of the air. I had been doing this for centuries, but I had never before been this nervous before a kill. It was Bella, of course. I didn't want to frighten her and at the same time I wanted to impress her with my hunting skills.

I could smell the honeyed and ravenous grizzly bear. It was close. Very close, in fact. It was upwind, which meant that it was behind the pine tree over to the left of where we were standing

But now I could smell something else. It was a very familiar smell to all of our noses, and I was sure that they could all smell it and knew what it was. Bella wouldn't know who the smell belonged to, though. All she could smell was an awful, rancid stench that the rest of us could easily identify as wolves.

"Ugh, what _is_ that?" Bella complained, holding her nose.

I saw Edward grin out of the corner of my eye and he took on a protective stance next to Bella.

Carlisle took a step forward and spoke to the seemingly empty clearing. "We mean no harm," he said calmly. "I am sure you will understand why we did it - she wanted this of her own free will. Please keep the treaty standing."

"You broke the treaty, not us," Edward translated for Sam, the alpha in the pack.

Suddenly Bella understood. She tried to run forward to greet the wolves and Edward put out an arm absently, expecting to be able to stop her easily. He had forgotten about her newborn strength and she broke free of his grasp easily.

"Careful, Bella," Carlisle cautioned, "You cannot cross the border into their territory anymore."

A russet coloured wolf leapt forward to the border line and howled at Bella. She frowned in recognition.

"I'm sorry, Jake."

"Not as sorry as I am," Edward said in a low growl, obviously hating to translate for Jacob Black. "We need to talk. Can your… No, _dog_, I will not insult my kind! Anyway, can your _people_ stand back so that we can talk alone?"

She nodded.

"So will mine," Edward finished translating, and gave her a hug. "You don't have to do this, you know."

She was firm. "Yes, I do."

And then we were gone, waiting for her. But I could not help myself; I was powerless to resist listening in. I listened as Jacob Black walked towards her with a forlorn and morose expression on his face. As I said, I couldn't help it.


End file.
